In a dust-filled heat haze somewhere in Latin America lies Higot, a tobacco town with not even a bus service to its nearest neighbour. It’s difficult to fool gossip-starved locals in a place where ‘the smallest break in sameness is a call to village eyes’. But the ‘Marisol Committee’, instigated by poetry-loving mayor El Gordo (‘fat one’) manages to create a hoax in which even the most suspicious of residents unknowingly partakes.

Narrated in endearing English gleaned from the 23,000 books left to him by a generous benefactor, El Gordo is a man of contrasts. Bitten by the ‘black dog’ inside, but with a jolly exterior, solitary but craving company, Higot’s mayor embarks on a series of deceptions and secrets that will soon attract the interest of a far more dangerous audience. In what is primarily a love story, Rod Usher has created a delightfully light-hearted fable that politely wags its finger at meddlers. Usher’s style is enchantingly simple, consistently poking fun at the bizarre turns of phrase we English speakers employ: ‘Marisol Ruiz is not what you … call a chicken of the Spring.’ Poor Man’s Wealth harks vaguely back to Louis de Berniere’s magic realist period, if only because of its setting in a Spanish-speaking country ruled by a military junta. But the violent undercurrent that underpins much of de Berniere’s work is absent in Usher’s novel (the junta is a rather pushy background annoyance rather than an evil regime).

As the title suggests, we’re told that riches come not from money but human relationships – and all is not as it seems. Like the fool in Shakespeare’s King Lear, village mad man Bartolomeo is the only one who sees clearly and it is he who is responsible for Higot’s ultimate salvation. Poor Man’s Wealth is a non-taxing, pleasant read, ideal for lazing with by the water this summer.

Amy Roil blogs at Book Witch: